BlackBerry Faces Test In Its Largest Asian Market

BlackBerry is looking to its new Z10 smartphone to reinvigorate sales in Indonesia, its biggest Asian market, but it may have a tough time clawing back market share with competitors launching new models soon and handset prices remaining prohibitive for many consumers.

Associated Press

The Blackberry Z10.

The company has a lot riding on the Z10. BlackBerry, formerly called Research In Motion, has seen its once-dominant market position shrivel away, especially in the U.S., since the iPhone appeared in 2007 Samsung Electronics will be unveiling its new Galaxy phone on March 14, a day before the Z10 begins selling in Indonesia.

BlackBerries remain popular in Indonesia but their market share has dropped in recent years with the introduction of devices from Samsung and Sony Corp. catering to the Indonesian market. The company hopes the Z10, which will be available starting March 15 and preloaded with locally developed applications, will be a hit in Southeast Asia’s most populous nation. Just how much consumers will be willing to pay remains the big question: the new phone will be priced at 6,999,000 rupiah ($721) each, in a market where smartphones start as low as $40.

“The BB10 price point is one which is going to place it as an item of interest for the middle-upper income bracket…therefore, we don’t expect a tremendously high rate of shipments at present,” said Sudev Bangah, head of Indonesian operations at researcher IDC.

According to Canalys, BlackBerry’s market share in Indonesia fell to 42% in 2012 from 67% in 2011, while Samsung’s share more than doubled to 48% from 23%, in terms of new handsets sold.

BlackBerry is backing the Indonesian launch of the new all-touch phone with “the largest marketing support in any Asian market,” said Managing Director for South Asia Hastings Singh.

“Indonesia is a globally important market for us,” he added.

Among the more than 4,000 applications that have been developed solely for the Z10 is the Cineplex 21, which allows users to check movie schedules and buy tickets at Cinema 21, the largest cinema chain across Indonesia.